Sugar Daddy Rum is the latest product release from Prohibition Spirits, the Sonoma based company that also makes the line of Hooker's House whiskeys. Sugar Daddy Rums are available in three expressions -- Light Rum, Amber Rum and Dark Rum -- and all three rums are originally sourced in the Caribbean before being aged in wine and bourbon barrels at Prohibiton Spirits' California distillery. Sugar Daddy Light Rum is a light pot still rum that hails from Jamaica. It's matured in large puncheon barrels that previously stored Chardonnay. According to the company, this rum "has rich flavors of banana, coconut and...

Earlier this month, word came that country star Kenny Chesney had launched a new rum brand. Dubbed Blue Chair Bay, the lineup consists of a white rum, a coconut rum and a coconut spiced rum. Chesney is just the latest celebrity to get into the spirits market, with others including George Clooney (Casamigos Tequila), Ron Jeremy (Ron de Jeremy Rum) and Justin Timerlake (901 Tequila), to name a few. To produce the rum, Chesney headed to Barbados and enlisted master blender Mike Booth at one of the Caribbean's oldest rum distilleries. Rather than simply put his name behind the brand, Chesney...

Earlier this month, Tony Abou-Ganim (author of the Modern Mixologist, ubiquitous champion of cocktails and all-around solid guy) came through town as part of a Shellback Rum series called All Hands on Deck. Tony worked a room of rum aficionados and novices alike -- detailing rum's storied history, production and application in cocktails -- while also leading us through a few recipes. We laughed, we muddled, we... drank tons of rum. Good times. Tony demonstrated five cocktails, of which we attendees utilized our personal bar setups to make three. First up, a modified mojito that's probably the only mojito I've ever...

Author Mack McConnell is a contributing writer for Cocktail Enthusiast. He also runs a Rum of the Month Club. Clear rums aren’t typically my thing. If I’m drinking clear rum, it’s usually mixed with something else. That's not very flattering for the category, but hey, such is the case for me. But Oronoco is a bit different from other clear rums – mostly because I think it’s awesome. I imagine it mixes well, but I never find the need, as sipping it with ice always feels right. From Brazil, and produced by cachaca makers Vicente and Roberto Bastos Ribeiro, Oronoco is seriously smooth...

Mount Gay, the Barbados-based rum maker that's been producing rums for more than 300 years, today announced the launch of Mount Gay Black Barrel Rum. This latest product was crafted to celebrate the brand's 310th anniversary. From Mount Gay -- All Mount Gay rums are made from a blend of single column and double copper pot distillates and matured in toasted oak barrels. Black Barrel has a higher proportion of double distillates and, after hand selection by Master Blender Allen Smith, Black Barrel is the only marque finished in charred bourbon oak barrels. The result is a bold tasting rum with...

When most people think of Australian rum, they think of Bundaberg. And "Bundy," as it's affectionately called, has a cult-following, love-it-or-hate-it reputation. Anyway, this isn't that. This is South Sea Rum, which comes courtesy of the Perth-based West Australian Distilling Company. And besides its country of origin, it has little in common with Bundaberg. Which, in our opinion, is a good thing. South Sea Rum is an agricole-style rum distilled from the free-run juice of pressed Queensland sugarcane. From there, it's blended with rainwater and then finished in both used and new American oak barrels for a minimum of two years....

Rum for All is an industry initiative supported by a handful of rum producers. It aims to elevate the category through a series of seminars and tastings. What this means: F Paul Pacult and Sean Ludford travel the country, drinking rum and talking about it with trade, media and enthusiasts. And recently, they swung through our home town. Naturally, we accepted a seat at the table. Pacult and Ludford kicked things off with a quick history lesson of the sugarcane spirit, from its earliest days to its impact on life in the 15th and 16th centuries to modern-day production. Then, some...

One of the newest products to cross our desk is Shellback Rum. Introduced last month and hailing from Barbados, Shellback is currently producing both a silver and a spiced rum at the West Indies Rum Distillery. Shellback Silver Rum The Shellback Silver may look unaged, but it's actually spent one year in used bourbon barrels before being filtered to remove the color. The first thing you'll notice when diving into this one is the massive vanilla aroma. It's super sweet, more like vanilla extract than vanilla beans. Take a sip and there's more vanilla, but it's significantly muted compared to the nose....

Here's some rum news: Plantation, the guys best known for their quality aged rums (aged in Cognac casks, mind you), recently launched a white rum. This new offering, dubbed Plantation 3 Stars White Rum, is named after the three rum-producing stars of the Caribbean -- Barbados, Trinidad and Jamaica. And each island plays an integral role in this rum. And because it's not a Plantation rum without some kind of interesting twist, Plantation 3 Stars is a blend comprised of aged and unaged rums. Here's the tally: we've got three year old Trinidadian rum; unaged Barbados rum; unaged Jamaican rum; and 12...

Appleton Estate has introduced a limited-edition 50-year-old rum to celebrate the 50th anniversary of Jamaica’s independence. Titled the Appleton Estate 50 Year Old Jamaica Independence Reserve, the new product is a blend of 20 rums each aged for a minimum of 50 years. Over the next five decades, the rum was carefully aged – first by Master Blender Owen Tulloch, then by current Master Blender Joy Spence. And, fun fact, it's believed to be the world's oldest rum. The result is a dark mahogany rum with aromas of powerful oak and rich vanilla layered with cinnamon, maple and orange peel. And...